A big medal haul of 11 on Saturday including five more golds, including a surprising track win, brought the US to 114 total, their best Olympics since Los Angeles in 1984 (174) and third all time behind 1904 St. Louis as well (239). Those two Olympics are very unique and will probably never be surpassed so the US total in Rio is noteworthy. The 43 golds the US has in Rio are within striking distance of Beijing’s 46 for second most all-time behind 1984 and 1904. The US should take gold in men’s basketball and women’s boxing on Sunday but the question is if they can find one more gold to take home from Rio in perhaps the marathon or wrestling.

August 20th Recap:

Basketball

The US women beat Spain in the gold medal game on Saturday to take Gold for the sixth straight Olympics. The US only led 21-17 after the first quarter but went on to take a 17-point halftime lead en route to a 101-72 win. The Americans were led by 17 points from Diana Taurasi and Lindsay Whalen. Whalen added six assists, as did Maya Moore, as the US had 29 assists on 41 made baskets. Tina Charles and Brittney Griner each had seven rebounds in the win. It’s been ten years now since the US lost their last game at one of their big tournaments, a loss to Russia in the semifinals of the 2006 World Championships. Their next international tournament will be the 2018 FIBA World Championship for Women to be held in Spain from September 22nd-30th, 2018.

Boxing

Shakur Stevenson had a fantastic showdown with Robeisy Ramirez in the men’s bantamweight final on Saturday with the three judges disagreeing about who won the fight in the final round. In the end Stevenson lost 2-1 and was unable to become the first American gold medalist in men’s boxing since 2004. Stevenson is a future professional star who will already have a brand with boxing fans after Rio so it’s no surprise to hear him talking about turning pro now instead of the long four-year wait for Tokyo that would await him if he decided to try for gold again.

Cycling

Saturday was the women’s mountain bike cross country event with Lea Davison and Chloe Woodruff in the field for the US. Davison placed a strong seventh on Saturday, 3:12 back, while Woodruff was about three minutes further back in 14th.

Diving

David Boudia became the first two-time medalist in the men’s 10m platform competition from the US with a bronze medal on Saturday to close out Rio. Boudia had to work hard in the final dives of the semifinal just to advance grabbing the 10th of 12 spots and finishing just 11 points ahead of teammate Steele Johnson who missed out in 13th. In the final Boudia was much more clean and while his final dive was not where he wanted it to be and cost him silver he still won bronze.

Golf

Gerina Piller was the American with the clearest shot at a medal coming in to the final day in a tie for second but fired off a final day 74 to finish tied for 11th at -6. Lexi Thompson was well out of contention but a final day 66 did allow her to move up to -3 for the tournament and finished tied for 19th. Stacy Lewis also had a 66 on the last day but because of her 76 the day previously that left her at -9 and a stroke out of the medals in fourth.

Gymnastics

The US rhythmic gymnastics group of Kiana Eide, Alisa Kano, Natalie McGeiffer, Monica Rokhman, and Kristen Shaldybin failed to qualify for the final on Saturday as they had a slip up on their ribbons routine before showing better with the clubs and hoops. The Americans took a 13.908 on their opening routine but did manage to fight back for a 16.316 on their second routine.

Modern Pentathlon

The men’s modern pentathlon wrapped up on Saturday with Nathan Schrimsher in contention for a medal during the combined event but unable to finish quick enough to claim one. The American was 7th in the 200m freestyle swim at with a time of 2:00.87 for 338 points, 10th in fencing with an 20-15 record for 220 points, 18th in show jumping with 14 obstacle penalties and four time penalties for 282 points, and 18th in the running/shooting combined with a time of 11:30.76 for 610 points. He finished 11th overall with 1450 total points.

Taekwondo

The US won their only taekwondo medal of Rio on Saturday. Jackie Galloway in the women’s +67kg division won pretty clearly in the round of 16 against Crystal Weeks 5-0 before fighting a series of close matchups the rest of the day. Galloway won the tiebreaker in the quarterfinals after tieing 1-1 with Reshmie Oogink but lost it in the semifinals after tieing 0-0 with Maria Espinoza. Her bronze medal match was a close one too but she did get a clean 2-1 win over Gwladys Epangue. The other US match on Saturday saw Stephen Lambdin lose in the round of 16 against Maicon Siqueira 9-7. Lambdin did not get a repechage chance.

Track and Field

Saturday was about extending streaks and ending them for the US in track and field. The US 4x400m women’s relay team of Courtney Okolo, Natasha Hastings, Phyllis Francis, and Allyson Felix made it six straight Olympic titles as they led the race from start to finish. The men’s 4x400m relay team of Arman Hall, Tony McQuay, Gil Roberts, & LaShawn Merritt also won gold after having finished second in London. It was a streak ended for Matthew Centrowitz Jr. in the men’s 1500m as he ended a 108-year stretch of the US not winning gold since 1908. That should give hope to Cubs fans… Ben Blankenship was eighth for the US in the event. The US also won a medal in the men’s 5000m ending a streak of 42 years without one as Paul Chelimo was able to come in second. After the race Chelimo was disqualified and told on live TV, and then reinstated to take silver. Bernard Lagat was fifth for the US and Hassan Mead was 11th. There would be no medals for the US in the women’s 800m, where Kate Grace was eighth, or in the women’s high jump where the entire field struggled and the Americans were no different. Vashti Cunningham was first out after missing three times at 1.93m while Inika McPherson was eliminated with three misses at 1.97m. Chaunte Lowe  was one of the final four but behind on countbacks so she needed to clear 2.00m and couldn’t as she finished fourth.

Triathlon

The women’s triathlon on Saturday produced the first ever gold for the US in the event. It was no surprise as the best triathlete in the wold Gwen Jorgensen did what was expected and proved her supremacy on the largest stage. Sarah True was fourth in London but forced to drop out of this race after a bike crash and Katie Zaferes had a strong finish in 18th.

Volleyball

The US women took bronze on Saturday beating the Netherlands for the second time in Rio and the fourth time this summer, 3-1 this time (25-23, 25-27, 25-22, 25-19). The Americans have still never won gold in the Olympics but are now medalists in three straight summer games.

Wrestling

The US won their first men’s wrestling medal on Saturday after a strong day of competition from J’den Cox in the men’s 86kg division. Cox opened with a 7-1 win over Amarhajy Mahamedau before a big 5-1 win over Alireza Karimi to reach the semifinals. He lost his semifinal 2-1 to Selim Yasar after an extremely close match but did beat Reineris Salas in the bronze medal match to take home a bronze from Rio. Trevel Dlagnev in the men’s 125kg division also had medal hopes after beating Jamaladdin Magomedov in the round of 16 6-5 and then beating Robert Baran 3-2 in the quarterfinals. His final two matches lasted just 30 seconds as dealing with an injured back he was taken to the mat and rolled back and forth in each match for 10-0 losses to Komeil Ghasemi in the semifinals and Geno Petriashvili in the bronze medal match.

August 21st Preview:

All times ET!! All events should be available online via NBC’s Olympic website and apps (assuming a cable package that gives you access). What is live on NBC in ET/CT is usually tape delayed in MT/PT. Yell at NBC for their ridiculous decision to tape delay an Olympics happening one hour east of ET, it’s insane. Schedules of competition and of course TV coverage subject to change, especially if the US competitors unexpectedly advance in a competition.

Basketball

The US men face Serbia for the gold medal on Sunday at 2:45 PM after the Serbians upset Australia on Friday. Serbia was just 2-3 in group play but has won three straight now in Rio. Serbia had not been to the Olympics since 2004 and was part of Serbia and Montenegro at that point. They were the runner-up at the Basketball World Cup in 2014 losing to the US 129-92 in the final. The US had a hard time with Serbia in the group stage where they only won 94-91 so it’ll be interesting to see if they put this one away early or have to fight the entire game for gold. NBC, NOT NBCSN!!!, will have LIVE coverage of the game.

Boxing

Claressa Shields will face Nouchka Fontijn for gold on Sunday in the women’s middleweight boxing gold medal bout at 1 PM. That will be a rematch of the final from the world championships in May. NBCSN will have the bout LIVE.

Cycling

The final cycling event of Rio is the men’s mountain bike cross-country event at 11:30 AM with Howard Grotts in the field for the US. Grotts is not expected to be a medal contender but was 18th at one of the UCI Cross-country World Cup events earlier this year. USA will have the race LIVE.

 

Track and Field

The final track and field event in Rio is the men’s marathon on Sunday at 8:30 AM. Meb Keflezighi, Galen Rupp, and Jared Ward will compete for the US. Keflezighi is the last American to medal in the marathon taking silver in 2004 but no American has won the Olympic marathon since Frank Shorter in 1972. NBC will have LIVE coverage.

Volleyball

The US men will face Russia for bronze on Sunday morning at 8:30 AM. Russia went 4-1 in the pool stage so they should certainly be a tough test for the American as they try to medal. Russia won gold in 2012 and were the only team to beat the US in pool play in London. Russia finished 5th at the World Championship in 2014. These two sides met in the World League this summer in Dallas with the US sweeping the Russians. You can catch this one LIVE on USA.

Wrestling

The US will have two more wrestlers going on Sunday to wrap up the Olympics. Frank Molinaro competes in the men’s 65kg event and will start off in the round of 16 against Magomedmurad Gadzhiev. Kyle Snyder is in the men’s 97kg division and he’ll start off with Javier Cortina in the round of 16.  The quarterfinal, and semifinal matches follow in the morning. If anyone loses to a finalist in their division they are in the repechage bracket later in the day. The repechage matches and medal matches are held later in the day starting at 11:45 AM. USA will have some LIVE coverage around volleyball in the morning between 8 AM and 10:30 AM with NBCSN having delayed coverage of the later rounds between 12:30 PM and 3 PM.